Hardshells & Hell

You rarely hear sermons on Hell and eternal punishment by the Hardshells. During the ten plus years I was a "Primitive Baptist" member and elder I heard a lot of sermons on all kinds of subjects, but preaching on Hell was rare. Father preached on it. Sonny Pyles would occasionally talk about it and defend the historic teaching of Baptists on it. But, they were the few exceptions. 

When I was a Hardshell I used to hear it said all the time "elder so and so is a no Heller." My reaction was always the same. I would say to myself - "I just don't see how anyone can deny it seeing it is so clearly taught in scripture." Of course, in time I began to see how this reluctance to preach on Hell was due to their quasi Universalism. 

They not only rarely preached on Hell and eternal punishment but they showed a disinterest in the subject, wanting to ignore it. They found it more desirable to believe that most people were elect and going to Heaven and that only a few, the worst of sinners, were going to Hell. 

They manifest "cognitive dissonance" in regard to this subject. It is similar to their attitude towards the question "where did the devil come from?" They have dissonance here also. Both examples of it are a result of the remnants of Two Seed ideology that have descended to them from their forefathers, a large number of whom were in sentiment "Two Seeders."

Preaching on Hell and eternal punishment has been used by God to "awaken" dead sinners to their precarious situation with God. Yet, Hyper Calvinists are so afraid of getting a non elect converted (or converted for the wrong reasons) that they denounce what they called "scaring people into making a profession of faith." Such preaching, they say, produces false converts, hypocrites, and fills the church with unregenerate members. They also say that frightening people about Hell is not the way to produce proper obedience to God but rather through comforting them with words of hope.

Of course, I see how all this is the deception of Satan and demons. ('doctrines of demons' I Tim. 4: 1) The Bible is filled with examples of teachers of the word warning the sinner about Hell and eternal punishment and in those warnings there is a call and exhortation to repent. You can call that evil and scaring people into Heaven if you want, but your cavil means nothing. The example of the prophets, Christ, and the apostles is worth more than such petty objections. 

I recall my blessed father detailing how he first became a believer. He was in a Missionary Baptist church and the preacher preached on Hell. He said it convicted him so much that he could "smell the fire and brimstone" as the preacher preached. He was awakened to his lost condition (as the Spirit was showing him he was lost) and he knew, as the preacher had counseled, that he needed to repent and convert. So he did. After that he went to seminary and spent fifty years or so with the Hardshells and more than sixty fives years as a preacher. That is a good example of being scared into faith! But, his example is not singular, for many of the saints were first awakened by sermons on Hell and this led them to faith in Christ and the gospel. They can decry what they call "turn and burn" preaching and messaging by preachers if they want, but this kind of preaching was done by the prophets, apostles, and by Christ himself. Spurgeon defended this type of preaching.

Hardshells who want to come and defend their views on these things are more than welcome to come to this blog and present their case. We will give opportunity for them to do so.

If more of them would become "fire and brimstone" preachers like their forefathers, and give heartbreaking appeals to the wicked, they would no doubt see more conversions.